Husband and wife business partners, Sheri and Joe Gebbia and Marc and Kristen Latham have had The Lullaby House ready for its infant clients since Sept. 21, but City of Lewes Building Official and Code Enforcement Officer Henry Baynum says the business doesn’t comply with Lewes’ CR-2, commercial-residential zoning requirements.

He said possible solutions that would allow the business to open would be for Lewes Mayor and Council to grant a conditional use; the board of adjustment to grant a variance; or for the city to change the zoning code.

Baynum said the quickest and easiest solution would be a conditional use.
But business owners say their facility already meets city code.

“The town has zoned this location to be a school, a grocery store, a retail establishment or doctor’s office. The Lullaby House is a school,” says Kristen. The partners say the State Fire Marshal’s office has issued an occupancy permit that allows them to have up to 12 infants in the facility.

Set up as an educare facility, The Lullaby House is ready to begin teaching infants ages 4 weeks to 24 months. Kristen says the parents of nine infants are eager for the facility to open but it can’t until the zoning issue is resolved.

“We aren’t a daycare, we’re an educare – we’re a school. We educate our infants. By the time they’re 2, when they walk out our doors, they’ll know their ABCs,” says Kristin.

“They’ll also know all of the letters and sounds the letters make; they’ll recognize letters; they’ll know numbers and colors; and they’ll also know some sign language,” says Sheri.

All infants would have cribs, and the staff would use an electronic system to aid in keeping track of feedings, diaper changes and wake-sleep cycles.

Sheri said the partners, who have 20 years of childcare experience, use a carefully planned program to help infants as young as 9 months quickly develop sign language skills.

She said when a 2-year-old finishes the program, the child is capable of signing 18 words.

“Before the baby is able to vocalize or communicate with us through speech, they can communicate with us through sign language. It cuts down on frustration,” says Sheri.

Simple words such as please, thank you, you’re welcome, more, I’m thirsty, I’m hungry, yes and no are part of the sign language vocabulary.

“An infant can grow up in a trilingual house and learn to speak three languages fluently and interchangeably. Adults could take years to learn just one language,” says Sheri.

At a cost of $200 a week per infant, The Lullaby House plans to provide high-quality individualized educational programs, known as IEPs, which set learning goals and track an infant’s progress.

The business partners say many people are not aware that there are well-established, proven methods of teaching critical skills to an infant as young as 4 weeks old.

“They’ll laugh out loud when we tell them that’s what we do,” says Kristen.

“We have a 98-page curriculum that states what we teach. We are an early-care education center, which under federal law is called an educenter,” she says.

“The first three years of life are critical to learning – it’s use it or lose it. The more synaptic connections created, the better we’re able to help a child develop,” says Sheri.

The Lullaby House is at 421 Savannah Road, across from Beebe Medical Center.

For additional information, phone 302-250-6254.